From STAFF REPORTS
americustimesrecorder.com

The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets intercollegiate basketball team opened the 2015-16 season with back-to-back wins in the Darton State College Classic on the weekend of Oct. 31-Nov. 1. The Lady Jets defeated the Southern Crescent Tigers 86-42 on the 31st and then followed up with a 109-16 win over Summer Hill Prep on Nov. 1.
The team continued the streak with another solid victory ((80-55) over Gadsden State Community College on Nov. 5.
The Lady Jets, who are coming off back-to-back appearances in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament, earned a pre-season 16th place national ranking in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball poll released last week. These first two wins of the season allowed them to take first place in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) regular season standings at 2-0.
“It was good to be able to walk away with two wins in our first regular season games,” said SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “I saw a lot of things we can go better but this is a great way to start the season. We did not play returning starter Cierra Bond, who was ill, but these two games gave us the opportunity to play some of the freshmen and give them additional playing time early in the season.”
In the opening game against South Crescent Tech, returning sophomore starter, Molly Brown, led the Lady Jets in scoring with 24 points. She also had eight rebounds, three assists, four steals and one blocked shot. Angela Tompkins, a transfer sophomore, added 19 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Freshman, Mikaela Jones, was next with 12 points, 14 rebounds, three steals, and three blocked shots.
The only other Lady Jet in double figures was freshman, Kendra Green, who added 11 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Sophomore point guard, Brittney Delva, tossed in nine points, had eight assists, five rebounds, and four steals; and sophomore forward, Claudia Perez, added eight points and five rebounds.
In the contest against Summer Hill Prep, the Lady Jets were up 54-2 at the end of the first half and went on to win, 109-16. Tompkins led the team with 34 points, nine rebounds, six assists, six steals, and one blocked shot.
The remainder of the scoring for the Lady Jets was evenly spread between the other six players.  Freshman Kendra Green had 17 points. Brown and Perez both added 14 points, while freshmen, Brook Bruns, and  Mikaela Jones tossed in 12 points each. Delva added six points.
Following these two strong wins, the Lady Jets hit the road to take on Gadsden State Community College on Nov. 5. The SGTC women continued their winning streak, taking an 80-55 win in the test.
The Lady Jets got off to a slow start in the match, giving up 19 points in the first quarter, while scoring only 17. The SGTC crew made ground in the next frame, posting 20 points, while holding Gadsden to 14.
The Lady Jets really made their presence felt in the second half, however, adding 43 points while playing hard defense to hold their opponents to only 22, taking the victory.
Thompkins paced the team as they sped towards the win, picking up a double double with an impressive 30 points and 14 rebounds.
Bond also hit double figures, adding another 20 points and six rebounds to propel the Lady Jets to the win.
With a total of eight players participating in the match, the Lady Jets hit 44.9 percent from the field and 4.4 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. SGTC’s shooters from the free throw line connected on 82.4 percent of their attempts.
The Lady Jets faced Andrew College on Nov. 10 in Cuthbert for their first conference game of the season. The results of this match were not available at press time.
They travel to Florida on Nov. 14-15 to play St. Petersburg College at 2:00 p.m. on the 14th and Hillsborough College in Tampa on the 15th at 2:00 p.m.